Set after To The Skies! and before Late Night Nerds
"So that's a Geomagnetic Pole?" Logan asked, staring in awe at the pillar of light before him.
"Yup," Benji answered, as he finished doing... something. "There. Now we can access a warp between here and Tharsis."
Ever since their completion of the entry test for their guild and acquiring of their airship, the Nightseeker, Venturis had been soaring above the plains around Tharsis, and at the direction of Benji, landing here, at an area known as the Lush Woodlands. It was a thick forest, full of monsters, some of which they had recognized from the mine, but some new ones as well. Before they had gotten very far, Benji had spotted the pillar of light and directed them to it, the Runemaster recognizing the Geomagnetic Pole instantly.
"What about the airship?" Cherise asked, glancing back from where they'd come, Nightshade tied down at the entrance.
"That's what it's attuned to, a special crystal in the ship. When we activate this one," Benji held up a small pink crystal, the same colour as the Pole itself. "It activates the one on the ship as well, sending all of us back to town. We can port straight here as well."
"But how-"
"Magic, it's magic, let's not get into the details, please," Logan cut off his sister as he began to lead the group away from the Pole.
He led everyone through a door and into a small clearing with… nothing. Nothing but some big, fallen trees blocking what looked to be a path leading deeper into the labyrinth.
“Guess we can’t go this way,” Natsuki mentioned off-hand as they spread out around the room.
“Why not?” Cherise asked, prodding one of the logs with her weapon. “I can climb these easy, here watch!”
“Cherise, no!” Adina shouted suddenly, but not fast enough.
The Nightseeker had already started clambering up on the logs, an action she immediately regretted. “Ewwww…” She said with a wince, pulling her hand off the log with some effort.
She worked at her foot next, but it popped right out of the boot, her footwear clinging to the fallen log. Adina had to suck her lips into her mouth and bite down to keep from laughing. Logan had no such problem and broke out into a chuckle as his sister glared daggers at him.
“That is not funny.”
“Says you. Come on, grab your boot we’ll think of something else,” Logan did his best to stifle his laughter as he scanned the logs. “Ben-” He snorted, failing his efforts for a moment, before continuing. “Benji, can you burn the logs?”
Both the Runemaster and Adina shook their heads together. “Not a chance,” he said. “Even if I could burn them away, to do so cleanly, without risk to the surrounding foliage, would be incredibly risky. We could end up burning a large portion of the forest down, and that’s assuming we still get through the logs.”
“Not to mention the smell of burning honey - that’s what’s covering the trees, by the way, and why it’s so sticky - could attract large numbers of monsters,” Adina added just as Cherise finally unstuck her boot.
“So a different way around,” Logan summarized.
“Different way around,” Benji and Adina both said with a nod.
With all footwear properly replaced, the guild set out again. Over the next week progress through the woods was slow. A few more fallen trees were found, but no way around ever presented itself.
It wasn't until the end of a full week since they reached the woods that they came across the other side of the fallen trees.
"So this is where those paths lead..." Adina mumbled to herself as she looked around the the area. Three paths and three sets of sticky, sweet smelling fallen logs were nearby a small pond. All the blocked paths led here.
"But there's nothing here," Cherise complained, scowling at each set of trees as if they had personally offended her.
Benji shook his head. "Often paths like these are utilized as shortcuts to reach deeper parts of the labyrinth. We j-"
"Useless shortcuts if there's no way through, where did these logs even come from!? I mean..."
The red head's complaints continued, ignored, as Logan, with a sigh, lead the guild back north, through an unmapped area of the woods.
"...like, shouldn't there be someone who comes back to clear these paths, why else would they be here!? Look, here is yet ANOTHER blocked-"
"Quiet!"
The sudden outburst from the typically silent Dancer had everyone freezing mid step in front of more fallen logs to stare at Natsuki in confusion.
"What is it?" Logan whispered after a moment.
Natsuki shook his head and continued to stay still and silent, the guild following suit. "I think I know what clears the paths," he finally said.
A loud thump, cushioned by the soft forest floor came from behind the fallen logs. Everyone turned to look just as a loud roar sounded, followed by scraping, creaking, cracking, and then the shattering of the fallen logs. Behind it was a very large bear, claws big enough to knock a man's head clean from his shoulders, and claws to match. It glared down at the wide-eyed adventurers and roared again.
"RUN!" Logan shouted, turning back the way they'd come and booking it.
The rear of the guild didn't need to be asked twice and Venturis found itself being chased through the woods by a very angry bear.
"Logan we can't go this way!" Cherise shouted. "What about the blocked paths!?"
Sure enough the sticky logs came into view, blocking an easy escape.
"The doors are back north!" Benji panted as Venturis skidded to a stop.
"Left!" Logan ordered.
The bear stomped up behind them, keeping pace easily with the humans, around the pond, arms raising to slam down on anything it could maul. Logan readied his shield to try and save whoever would get hit, but unable to look the monster in the eye.
And then there was a scraping, a creaking and a loud cracking. Logan looked up to see the bear thourghly distracted by the fallen honey trees.
"Bears really do love honey..." Logan muttered, slackjawed and staring until Adina's call jerked him back towards the guild. "Keep near the trees when you run past!"
As they retreated to the doors, the bear lost ground, feeling some kind of need to destroy the fallen logs whenever it came close. When the guild was safely behind the solid labyrinth doors, the paths were all clear.
"My guess is THAT'S why no one clears the trees," Benji said between laboured breaths. "Why bring in tools when you can get a giant bear to do it for you?"
"Why do you have to sound so excited when you say that...?" Cherise panted in return.
"Everyone has their interests..." Adina said as she wiped her brow from her position on the forest floor.
Cherise shook her head and Logan smiled. They may have nearly been bear chow but they had cleared a path and come away safe from a deadly situation. Maybe this would work out after all.
"Let's just get back to the inn for now. I think we've earned a rest."
There were no arguments as Venturis packed up and headed back to their airship.
Training wasn't all Venturis needed to tackle the next floor of the labyrinth. Their equipment was getting out of shape, and simply wasn't up to the task of serving them against the new enemies they were coming across. As such, Logan stood looking over the railing of their airship, watching the ground roll by.
"Spot anything yet, fearless leader?" Adina asked as she walked up beside him.
"Not yet," Logan said cheerfully, looking up at her. "I'm sure it won't be long though, the place is relatively untouched."
Adina quirked her head at that and looked down to the ground herself. "How can you tell? Looks all the same to me."
Logan smiled and looked down too, crossing his arms over the railing and leaning against it. "We grew up on a farm, just outside a small town a ways away, so I know a little about the natural land, so to speak."
Adina glanced over her shoulder to where Natsuki was piloting Nightshade with Cherise next to him, her seeming to carry a conversation by herself prodded only by a few nods and fewer words from the Dancer.
"Why did you leave?" She asked, only turning back to him once she'd finished speaking. "I know farm work is difficult, but it can't be worse than risking your life like this every day."
Logan suddenly looked decidedly less cheerful. "Wasn't much of a choice. We don't have the farm anymore."
Frowning, Adina leaned in a little closer. "What happened?"
At first, Logan didn't answer. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How long has it been since we got the guild together?"
"A few weeks? Almost a month?" Adina answered, cocking her head slightly, curious about the apparent change in subject.
"Then its been about two months since some bandits attacked our farm. Burned it to the ground. Cherise and I weren't there at the time, but..." He shook his head and stopped talking.
The Medic put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to talk about it. But if you want to, I’m here, okay?”
Logan nodded idly, still staring over the side of Nightshade, but staring past the ground and off into space. Fighting monsters had turned out to be a great distraction from the destruction of all one knew and loved. Logan had been more concentrated on staying alive, and keeping the other members of his guild alive, to dwell on the reason he was here in the first place. He could feel it all bubbling up again, and he squeezed his eyes shut to try and fight it.
It was a losing battle, but only until Cherise called out, “Look! Vegetables and cattle! I bet that would fetch a nice bit of Ental!”
Logan focused on the sound of his sister’s voice and opened his eyes to look where she was pointing. “Y...Yeah…!” Came his slightly delayed response.
He could see Adina looking at him, concerned, but he focused down towards the supplies and called out to Natsuki to try and coordinate a landing to snatch it all up. Within a few hours, the hold was packed, expertly arranged by Benji and Adina to hold as much as possible, and they headed back to town with smiles on their faces.
With a much fatter wallet, Venturis retired that night feeling high on spirits, though Logan and Cherise stayed behind in the common room while the rest of the guild retired for the night.
“Hey…” Cherise said, sliding over to her brother. “How are you doing? I saw what happened earlier today… You were thinking of them, weren’t you?”
Logan nodded, his eyes drifting to the fire, and ended up looking straight through it, much like earlier. “It’s been easy not to lately. So much going on, life and death situations and all that. I… Sometimes…”
As Logan struggled to find words, Cherise seemed to complete them. “It sometimes feels like they’re not really gone. Like we’re just away for a bit and when we’re done we’ll just go back and everything will be normal again.”
“Yeah…” Logan choked out, nodding slightly as tears welled in his eyes. “I miss them so much…”
Cherise wrapped her brother in a hug, rubbing her face against his shoulder blade. “I do too…”
When they finally left the common room, the pair had swollen eyes, but at least were too exhausted to let their minds wander much more.
Benji’s bare feet slapped along the halls of the mansion,sounds of gunfire and contained explosions echoing outside as he made a maddash for the wine cellar. He could see them; black clad soldiers wearing blueand white facemasks pouring out of the hedges and surrounding his uncle as heopened glowing purple Psychic glyphs to drop them over the cliffs bordering thesea.
Benji skidded to a halt, searching the ranks for any sign ofthe tall, black eyed rogue with the greatsword but his uncle whipped around tocatch sight of him with a wild, fearful look on his face.
“Go!” Ivan cried, summoning aWind Glyph inside and blowing Benji back into the study before he could eventhink of helping. As the automated defense systems came online, Benji bit backa frustrated growl, tugging the secret book on the bookshelf that opened apassage into the underground wine cellar.
“You should have let me help!”
Ivan ignored his nephew’s outburst, watching the sparklingpink light coming from the Pixie Glyph slowly stitch together a shallow gash onhis arm where one bandit had managed to slash in with a long knife. The last fourtimes they had called the police to the house when Memmio’s men attacked, theywere gone before the sirens and lights reached their driveway so at some point,Ivan determined that it was better to deal with these problems…in house.
Which meant more automated security systems and onsitesecurity personnel than a fucking Kantonese military base and protocols forBenji to seal himself in the spacious cave beneath the mansion behind more irondoors and password protected security than a bank vault.
“What were you going to do?” Ivan said, rubbing the cleanpatch of skin where the gash had been before looking up at his nephew withcurious gold eyes. “Shoot them with a bow you don’t have?”
“I’m good with glyphs; I could have helped!” Benji insisted,clenching his hands. “I could have…I could have-“
“Killed them?” Ivan said taking Benji back for a moment.
“Of course,” Benji muttered.
“And if Memmio had been with them would you have killed himas well?” Ivan asked.
“You know I would!” Benji said fiercely. “Son of a bitchkilled my mother…my father…your brother!Doesn’t that mean anything to you?!”
“Not as much as keeping you alive does,” Ivan said sternly. “Andletting you help today would have done nothing to your benefit…”
“You talk of killing someone like it’s an easy thing,” Ivansaid, hopping off the counter and placing a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Butyour mother wouldn’t want her only child to be a killer…”
“How would you know,” Benji muttered bitterly, tearsstinging his eyes. “You didn’t know here like-“
“I knew your mother for years before you were even born,”Ivan said softly. “She was a good woman…a good friend. And she would have notwanted you to become a bloody murderer like her partner.”
Benji struggled to regain control of his breathing, closinghis eyes as his uncle passed him up the ramp heading towards his laboratory.
“Leave vengeance to those who are ready to take it,” Ivansaid quietly.”
“How come you two always get to pick where we go?” Cherise asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, causing it to tip a little.
“Don’t tip in your chair,” Logan said offhand, standing at the head of the table with Benji sitting around the side on his right. “And it’s because he’s the map guy who knows the area, and I’m the leader.”
“I didn’t vote for you as leader,” Cherise said with a shrug, and setting her chair back to normal.
Logan sighed and rolled his eyes, deciding to ignore his sister for the time being. “Anyway… Now that we’re all back up to full strength, we need to figure out how to get deeper into those woods. Considering how easily those monsters took us out, Benji and I have agreed we need a bit more training before we go too far in. There’s a nearby area, not far from the woods that seems to be good for what we need, a small orchard, right here.”
There was a mark on the map Benji had made up that Logan pointed at, not far from the mark that was labelled as the woods themselves. Logan glanced at the Runemaster and he cleared his throat before speaking.
“The orchard has some tougher monsters than we’ve seen so far, but it’s easier to come and go than the woods, which makes it safer overall. Adina thinks we could find some good materials to bring back to Berund Atelier, which means we’ll be able to afford some better gear for the trip through the woods as well.”
“It all works out!” Logan said with a smile. “So, let’s pack up our stuff and head out!”
Within hours Venturis was marching through the orchard, hunting down monsters. The battles weren’t always easy, but they managed. They even, as Adina had mentioned, found some new materials to collect and sell. It was during one of their collection periods that a deer wandered into their area. When Cherise pointed it out, they all froze and watched it. It didn’t seem to make a move at first, and then suddenly it yelled and charged at them.
They all quickly drew their weapons and jumped into formation. The young deer didn’t end up being as dangerous as they expected, and managed to kill it without too much problem, but yet Benji seemed unsettled as they slowly relaxed.
“Benji?” Natsuki asked, alerting the others to the look of unease on the Runemaster’s face.
“That was a Furyfawn…” he said quietly. “And where there’s a Furyfawn…”
A loud roar cut Benji off and the entire guild traded nervous glances.
“Maybe we should leave…?” Adina clutched at her staff and was already taking a couple steps back towards their airship.
Everyone nodded in agreement and after another moment of startled inaction, Logan led the way quickly back towards the exit. Just as they left the immediate area, a much larger, much scarier, much more dangerous looking, fully grown, purple deer burst out from the trees and wasted little time in charging after the adventurers.
“RUN!” Logan shouted, tearing off towards the door ahead of them.
No one wasted any time in following his order and they burst through the doorway that marked the halfway point back to the airship. They didn’t slow down as they did a U-turn back the way they came but on the other side of a thicket of trees, and past a pond that they had no way of crossing easily.
The deer, however, had apparently little trouble clearing the pond with a large leap, and landed directly in front of the guild, cutting off all exit.
“Back! Back!” Logan shouted as they all skidded to a stop, turning around and leading them back towards the door.
When they got close though, Logan turned them to the right, away from the door, and into a loop they’d mapped earlier. They ran through the trees, hearing the deer behind them. Logan’s change of plan worked though, as when they looped back around, the way was clear. The only problem now was that the deer was catching up to them.
“It’s going to catch us!” Cherise called out.
“Then slow it down!” Logan called back.
He heard frustrated grumbling from his sister, but she half turned and flung blinding dust at the monster. Benji followed it up with a fireball, and both attacks seemed to slow it down enough that the guild was able to slip around a corner. They could see the airship ahead, and it seemed to invigorate the adventurer’s to pick up their speed. The deer hadn’t stopped though. They could hear the stomp of its hooves getting ever closer, and Natsuki was sure for a moment he could feel the hot breath from its nose against the back of his neck at one point.
The raging monster pursued them all the way to the airship, and the entire guild practically collapsed onto the deck as soon as they reached it, aside from Benji and Natsuki, who quickly got to work getting the vessel into the air and out of reach of the creature.
They floated just outside the orchard for a bit, listening to it shout and rage while they caught their breath and wondered what they had just escaped from.
“So… successful training day?” Logan said, still slightly out of breath.
Cherise smacked him on the shoulder and glared. “You are so not picking the next place we go.”
